1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a litter box for a pet, and more particularly, to an invertible cat litter box with a sifting feature so a pet owner may economize the use of pet litter by removing pet waste from the pet litter box and retaining the unused pet litter within the pet litter box.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many litter boxes for pets such as dogs and cats have proposed, so the pet may relieve itself of bodily waste within the home of the pet owner. However, the prior art litter boxes suffer from a number of drawbacks. Some pet litter boxes fail to provide a mechanism for separating the excrement from the litter, while other litter boxes are very difficult to clean due to intricate or complex arrangement of components.
With a litter box having the above drawbacks, a pet owner must engage in the unpleasant and malodorous task of directly separating the litter from the excrement and/or directly cleaning the excrement from the litter box. Alternatively, the pet owner may resort to the uneconomical practice of discarding all of the contents in the litter box, which results in significant wastage of the pet litter material.
Litter boxes have been proposed with a sorting feature that separates the excrement from the litter material and also facilitate cleaning the litter box. U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,474 issued to Leonard Schneider on Aug. 13, 1963 discloses a pet commode employing a removable plate, a screen and a solid removable tray. Litter is provided on top of the plate for use by the pet. The pet commode is cleaned by sliding the plate out of the commode so the litter and pet excrement falls onto the screen. The screen has openings that allow the unused pet litter to fall to a bottom tray, while retaining the excrement and used cat litter.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,188 issued to Samuel Bradstreet on Mar. 12, 1974 discloses a reusable sanitary pet lavatory having a pair of identical nested box-like receptacles having a screened or perforated plate positioned above a slidable floor member. Pet litter material is provided within the upper receptacle for use by the pet. The lavatory may be cleaned by opening the floor member of the upper receptacle so unused litter material passes through the screened or perforated plate into the lower receptacle. The pet excrement is retained by the screened plate of the upper receptacle for disposal. The lower receptacle with the pet litter may then be placed on top of the other receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,597 issued to Chester Taylor on Sept. 30, 1975 discloses a self-straining animal litter box having a central receptacle divided by a partition. Upper and lower trays having a screen and a rectangular side wall are placed above and below the partition, respectively. A cover with a rectangular skirt is placed near a tray. The cover on the upper tray is removed and pet litter material is placed in the upper tray for use by the pet. The litter box is cleaned by removing the partition, which engages a pair of flexible flaps, and unused litter material passes through the screens in the trays. Solid pet excrement is retained in the upper tray for disposal. After disposing of the solid pet excrement, the litter box is flipped over or inverted for reuse.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,822 issued to John Miller on Apr. 20, 1982 discloses a pet litter separator including a pair of opposed receptacles. Each receptacle has a projecting lip surrounding an upper edge thereof. A central slidable screen is also provided with an upper and lower track which is adapted to engage the projecting lips of the receptacles. The top receptacle may be removed and pet litter.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.